Sunpower prices???

[screwdriver]

Any idea where these fit between sanyo and suntech? just comparing quotes!

 

[Gavin A]

oddly enough, I've just had a price from a Belgian supplier of around 1.52Eur a watt, which equates to £1.24 a watt UK prices.

That'd obviously be plus delivery, but at least it gives a ball park for them that I couldn't get when I approached sunpower direct without jumping through a million hoops.

 

[screwdriver]

handy thanks!

 

[Energetic]

We are Sunpower partners, the pricing is pretty similar to Sanyo, i't would be nice if they were a bit less but they are a superb looking panel not having the contacts above the cells.

We have done a few 12 panel 4kWp systems with the 333W panels and some 3.6kWp with the all black 300s they really are a tidy system but they require a customer to value quality and aesthetics above payback.

Also you shouldn't be able to buy Sunpower from anyone but sunpower. they operate via a partner network and don't wholesale... Or so they tell us...

 

[Gavin A]

yeah, that's what they told me too. Trouble was that they wanted me to fill in loads of forms, and send a copy of my annual accounts proving x amount of annual turnover before they'd even discuss pricing etc.

Personally I prefer to know the pricing side of things first before I decide if it's worth the effort, given that the sanyo panels don't involve that sort of palava. I guess I might revisit it once I've got this years accounts worked up for them, as they'd not have considered us on the turnover from the year before.

or I might just buy the odd system from across the water.

 

[SolarCity]

SunPower panels don't seem worth it to me. As Gavin says, you don't need that messing around with Sanyo/Panasonic panels and customers have generally already heard of their quality.

 

[Energetic]

I think they do that to scare people off so they only get the really keen installers, it's really not as bad as the initial form suggests.

The Sanyo reputation amongst both installers and customers is awesome, which is why we feel SP need to come in a bit cheaper than them. I genuinely feel Sunpower have a better product and won't be quoting sanyo anymore but SP missed the boat last year and let sanyo run rampant at £1.80/w for the whole year with no competition. Madness...

Sanyo enjoy a far better reputation in the UK than anywhere else i have heard, all that nonsense we had with the 250's and the MPPT's meant speaking to lots of Europeans of various flavours and they couldn't understand why they're so popular here.

 

[JulianC]

Sanyo enjoy a far better reputation in the UK than anywhere else i have heard, all that nonsense we had with the 250's and the MPPT's meant speaking to lots of Europeans of various flavours and they couldn't understand why they're so popular here.

Neither can I to be honest. Yes, they look great, are well put together and may or may not outperform standard mono/poly panels by a small margin BUT, they are twice the price of a good mono panel. If installing PV purely as an investment (as the majority are) then they are hard to justify unless your roof is so small or awkwardly shaped as to force their usage. In my opinion. Which appears to be in a minority :earmuffs:

 

[SolarCity]

If I was installing panels, I wouldn't go for Sanyo.

However, some people simply like to have the best. If I were cash rich and I didn't understand the technology like an installer does then I would probably go for them - it is peace of mind as well as a status symbol on your roof.

 

[Energetic]

If I was installing panels

know the feeling ;-)

 

[Gavin A]

Sanyo's and sunpower both only make sense on roofs where it allows the biggest sensible system under the various FIT bands to be installed, eg 4kWp instead of 3.3kWp.

It used to be that we could offer beter rates of return on the 4kWp sanyo vs the 3.3kWp value systems, but the prices of the cheaper panels has been slashed so far that this doesn't quite work out now, but it's not far off still.

There's definitely an element of one upmanship with it as well though.